


while you're saving the world (who do you think will be saving you)

by aletterinthenameofsanity



Series: my tiny ass fandom fest [8]
Category: Spies Are Forever - Talkfine/Tin Can Brothers
Genre: BAMF Women, Canon Compliant, Cynthia is Curt's Aunt, Gen, Lesbian Character, POV Cynthia, Women In Power, but also Curt doesn't know, divergent only after canon, have I mentioned how much I love Cynthia&Curt's dynamic, trust me it makes sense
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-28
Updated: 2019-04-28
Packaged: 2020-02-08 17:19:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,917
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18627742
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aletterinthenameofsanity/pseuds/aletterinthenameofsanity
Summary: When Curt Mega’s job application passed her desk seven years ago, Cynthia knew exactly who he was. She’d been tracking his progress since he entered the agency three years ago, and he was an absolutely terrific agent. Like Aunt, like nephew, she’d caught herself thinking plenty of times as success after success rolled in under his name. Sure, he was a lot more rash and bold than she had been- she couldn’t afford to be a woman and be dicking around like that if she planned on getting promoted- but he was ruthless in his pursuit of success and most of all, he was fucking good.So it was with little trepidation that Cynthia calls him in for an interview. And the rest, as they say, is history.





	while you're saving the world (who do you think will be saving you)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [warlockinatardis](https://archiveofourown.org/users/warlockinatardis/gifts).



> Title is from "Pay Attention" from Spies Are Forever.
> 
> Alright, I've wanted to write a fic for this fandom for over a year, since I first watched the musical, but couldn't until this afternoon.
> 
> This is inspired by a tumblr post that I have now lost track of, but basically it said something about a headcanon where Cynthia was Curt's aunt the whole time. This is a lot different than the post, but eh, I still love it.
> 
> Fics posted in the fandom so far at time of writing: 77

_This is part of what a family is about, not just love._

_It's knowing that your family will be there watching out for you._

_Nothing else will give you that._

**― Mitch Albom**

 

Cynthia’s sister Jeanine always wanted nothing more than to be a mother, to raise a child of her own and give them the childhood that she and Jeanine never got. That was never Cynthia, though. She never had a single interest in children, only in getting out of their dead-end house and the parents who never really cared about them.

When Jeanine was eighteen and got pregnant out of wedlock, leading to their parents disowning her, Cynthia supported her sister even from her (unprecedented in their family, or even in their town) position as a detective. She would have never disowned her sister for such a thing, despite her lack of desire for kids- after all, Cynthia herself was a lesbian, and though she had never come out to her parents, she still cared deeply about her sister.

But then Cynthia got that F.B.I. job and she stopped really having a chance to talk to Jeanine. There had been a few letters here and there, but they’d been rather cleansed so that no pertinent information accidentally landed in the hands of a civilian and her school-aged son.

Over the first few years, Cynthia had kept sending letters. They'd gotten few and far between as she'd spent more time in her job at the Bureau until they eventually stopped completely.

And then after that, for years Cynthia had stopped really thinking of her sister that much. There had been so many cases, a string of promotions that she had to absolutely focus on, and a few actual relationships with actual women she’d had to make sure never got to the leaders at the Bureau, and, well, Jeanine had slipped her mind. Years had passed and she'd stopped really thinking about the sister she was still sending checks to every month, the name "Jeanine" only really passing her mind when she put the envelopes in the mail.

But then her sister’s son had entered the Bureau, and, well.

-

When Curt Mega’s job application passed her desk seven years ago, Cynthia knew exactly who he was. She’d been tracking his progress since he entered the agency three years ago, and he was an absolutely terrific agent. Like Aunt, like nephew, she’d caught herself thinking plenty of times as success after success rolled in under his name. Sure, he was a lot more rash and bold than she had been- she couldn’t afford to be a woman and be dicking around like that if she planned on getting promoted- but he was ruthless in his pursuit of success and most of all, he was fucking _good_.

So it was with little trepidation that Cynthia calls him in for an interview. And the rest, as they say, is history.

-

Cynthia has always known that Curt was of the other persuasion when it came to men.

She’s always been good at reading people. She’s always been good at knowing things. (And besides, it’s kinda easy to tell when other people are as queer as she is, and damn, Curt is definitely as queer as her.)

And she supports her nephew being happy. She supports Curt finding love, as long as it doesn’t fuck up the missions.

For the longest time, it doesn’t. Curt and Owen perform a number of successful missions together, and even if there are rumors about their recklessness together, they’re not important, not in the face of such overwhelming success.

So Cynthia doesn't say a word about the more-than-professional way that Curt and Owen interact. Instead, she just keeps interacting with her nephew in a strictly professional way, and she may be more fond of him than most of her agents but she’s not afraid to be as tough with him as she is with everyone else in her department.

Cynthia’s never been one for kind love- that’s always been Jeanine’s thing. Cynthia's much more of a tough love kind of woman, a figure-it-the-fuck-out-by-yourself kind of woman.

And then Owen dies, and, well, fuck.

-

Owen dies, and Cynthia knows what that means for Curt. She knows what it means when he spirals into alcohol, when he grows that fucking beard, when he flinches at the mention of Owen’s name.

You’re not supposed to get attached in this business, or it will destroy you. She knows that as well as anyone- she can remember what happened to her second partner, a woman named Lily Rossi, all too well. She hadn't even been foolish enough to fuck the woman, but she'd still grieved, just a little. To know how attached her nephew had gotten, how much his body language with Owen communicated that they'd  _definitely_ had a sexual and romatic relationship- well Cynthia knows how much that must have destroyed Curt.

But Cynthia's never been one for grand gestures of love or generosity. She hasn't even told Curt that she's his Aunt, yet. She doesn't want favoritism to color the excellent job she's been doing for country (or, more specifically, the people living in this country. Uncle Sam can go fuck himself, but the people here- that's who she's protecting).

So instead she eventually just ends up pulling Curt out of his funk and back into the business, half because she needs her best agent back on the job, and half because she knows he needs a purpose again.

-

When the whole mess is over, once Curt has been rehired and then fired and then rehired, when they’d uncovered the Nazis’ plans, when they’ve found out what truly happened to Owen (and fuck, Cynthia had sympathy for her nephew before, but now, knowing that he was tortured by his ex-lover- goddamn, that’s harsh)- well, Cynthia sits back in her chair and just breathes. She needs a moment to process everything, to decide what to do, who to talk to. Susan is great, he really is, but right now, he's not enough.

So Cynthia picks up the phone and dials a number she knows by heart but has never used before. “Hello, Mrs. Mega speaking,” comes her sister’s familiar, high-pitched voice on the other end, and Cynthia actually finds herself smiling out the window of her office.

“Hey, Jeanie,” she says, and she can hear an audible gasp on the other end.

“Cindy!” Jeanine says, “It’s so nice to hear from you! How long has it been, two decades?” There is isn’t an ounce of resentment in Cynthia’s sister’s voice, only a delighted curiosity.

Curt didn’t get his brains from his mother, but he did get his heart from her. Jeanine was never the smartest girl in the room, but she always cared a bit too much about people. (It’s the reason Curt was born, to be honest.)

"Yeah, it's been awhile," Cynthia admits, "How have you been, little sister?"

And Jeanine starts rambling, and it's as if no years have passed, as if Jeanine is just describing the story of an ordinary day at school rather than twenty years of absence.

Cynthia sinks back in her chair a little, posture slouching just a little bit, and closes her eyes as she just listens to her sister's warm voice speak.

-

So Curt quits the Agency as soon as they've taken down Cavour's computer systems, and Cynthia takes the opportunity to take one of the dozens of vacation days she's hoarded but never used in the twenty years she's worked at the Bureau and visits her sister for the first time.

"Cindy!" Jeanine says, and damn, how her sister's aged. She's wearing a houswife's smock-like dress with slippers underneath, there's grey streaking her hair and wrinkles creasing her face, laugh lines around her eyes.

Cynthia remembers Jeanine when they were teenagers, when Jeanine was the popular girl who everyone loved, the girl who excelled in etiquette and home ec classes, whose skirt was always firmly pressed and whose hair was a glorious bob- the only rebellious thing Jeanine ever did. Jeanine had been beautiful in a soft yet firm sort of way, with rounded cheeks and a bright smile.

Now, though, the years have taken away that youthful beauty, leaving her with the mature kind of beauty that mothers carry. Her smile is still warm, but it's far more maternal.

(Cynthia knows that she has never had a warm kind of beauty, if she has beauty at all. She's always been sharp-faced and hard-edged, with her lips far more prone to scowls than to smiles. In order to succeed, she's had to be hard and tough and unbending. She can't afford to be soft like Jeanine.)

"Hey, Jeanie," Cynthia says, and her sister reaches forward and pulls her into a hug. Cynthia tries not to flinch, but it has been  _years_ since she was last hugged, had her whole body held in a scenario that didn't involve either eminent death or a training simulation for her newest agents.

"It's good to see you, sweetie," Jeanine says as she pulls away from Cynthia. She then reaches for Cynthia's hand and pulls her forward. "Now come see the rest of the safehouse, Cindy, Curt and I have renovated this place so much, you'll love it."

And Cynthia goes easily.

- 

A few hours later, Curt takes a step into the safehouse. "Hey, mom, I'm back home," he starts, voice obviously tired but proud as he toes off his shoes at the door. "You've gotta hear what we finally finished-" Then he looks up and the words halt.

"What the fuck is Cynthia doing here?" Curt asks, eyes going wide at the sight of her. "You do know I resigned, right?"

And Cynthia smiles at Curt for the first time since she's met him and says, "Nice to meet you, nephew."

Curt's jaw drops. "Say what now?"

"Oh, Curt, sweetie," Jeanine says as she enters the room with a tray full of sandwiches and drinks for all three of them, "Your boss is my big sister, Cindy. Don't you remember my stories about her?"

"Wait a moment," Curt says, walking into the room and sitting down in the armchair. Cynthia notes a bit of a limp he wasn't showing back in her office when he quit yesterday. Huh- she guesses he did learn some from her as well as from Jeanine. How to be tough, to conceal your weaknesses, how to fool people- that's all Cynthia. "You're Aunt Cindy?"

And Cynthia "Cindy" Houston nods at her nephew. "In the flesh."

"Alright, then," Curt says, just like that. He picks up one of the mugs of coffee. "Should I start calling you 'Aunt Cindy' now, or will Cynthia still suffice?"

"You're just going to accept it that fucking easy?" Cynthia asks.

Curt gives her a very wry smile that carries the weight of a lot of pain, a lot of concealed agony that hasn't quite healed. "I've learned a lot of impossible things lately," he says, and she knows exactly what he's referring to. "This isn't that strange in comparison."

Alright, she can work with that. She can definitely understand that, if she's honest. She and Curt have a lot more in common than just blood, or even being two closeted queers. There's a shared grief between them, a certain stubbornness they both share. Curt doesn't always show how tough he can be emotionally, but she knows it's there.

Like Aunt, like nephew, after all.


End file.
